Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1887-03-16
MONEY-MAKING WOMEN,
Efficiency Of the Fair Sex i'm Tbs
Government Employ.

itS Drainy women. Our National
capital has more sharp, business,
money-making females in proportion to
Its size than perhaps any city in the
world. Its women get better salaries,
do higher classes of work, and are
further advanced In all the attributes
OF civilization than those of any other
city. In the government departments
alone between 1000 and 5000 women
are employed, and these do the work
which two decades ago was considered
only possible for men. Some of these
women are translators in the state de-
partments. Some are examiners in the
patent Office, and a large number hold
other positions where the work requires
good education, bright intellect,
and careful judgment. Many of them
have to answer letters, in which they
must Judge as to the legality of pension
cases brought before them, and others
have responsible positions in the treas.
ury and post-ofiice departments.
Women make the best clerks in many
departments Of the government service.
They are more prompt in their attend
ance than men, and are as rule, more
conscientious in doing their work. AS
copyiSts ana amanuenses they are US
ually neat and exact and as type
writers they surpass the other sex. AS
counters of money and counterfeit de-
tectors they are far superior to men.
They can count faster than men, and
the most expert among them can tell
bad bill by feeling 1t with her eyes
lhnf lutf tn ,1as..- ..f So y.n
treasury-and there are about !, 400
employed here-haye very responsible
positions. Ore is law clerk IN the
internal revenue department, and she
can prepare a brief equal TO that of
any lawyer of the capital. In the navy
department there are women who do
drafting in the drawing of the plants
of ships, and the major part Of the
dead letter office business is done by
women's fingers.
SALARIES OF WOMEN CLERKS.
The highest salary received by a
woman clerk In Washington is 81 so 4
year, and one of these is the law
clerk Of whom 1 have just spoken.
Less than a score receive 1900 per
annum, but larger number get ST.
200, and hundreds are paid 81 200 a
year, Mere copyIsts receive often as
low as S720, and there is large class
of womsn who work by piece work,
and who do the class of labor that
wOdld be required in factory. The
salaried clerks work from , o'clocS
until 4, with short recess at noon for
lunch. They have all of their even
ings to themselves, and never take
any work home with them. They get
their pay regularly at the 18th and
Both of every month, and each os them
have a months vacation every year
with full pay during the time. They
are treated politely, are free from
worry, and the positions may be con-
sidered very desirable ones.
The women of The government print
Ing Office are paid as rule by the piece
or by the day. Those ON piece work
make 81. .33 i day. and there are over
900 women so employed. They stitch
pamphlets, run numbering machines,
fold and paste for the bIndery, and they
do in fact nearly every class of work
done in the government printing Office.
Some of them set type, and these re-
ceive 35 cents an hour, and their aver
age salaries are $40 month. A large
number of guides are employed at the
bureau of engraving and printing, and
these are nearly all women. An army
OF sweepers and scrubbers is employed
to clean out the treasury department
every day, and the woman who presides
over them gets about $500 year.
These sweepers and scrubbers of the
various departments form another class
of the working women of Washington,
and connected with them is a class
who sew carpets in the treasury for the
government buildings all over the coun-
try. Then there is the colony of wash
erwomen, who wash the thousands of
towels used in each department, and
the numerous women who supply the
clerks with food in the restaurants of
these great buildings.
THOUSANDS OF BRIGHT WOMEN.
Outside Of the government employ
there are thousands OF bright women
who make good livings at the national
capital. The pension and patent law
yers employ hundreds as type-wrIters,
stenographers and clerks. and going
into the bureaus of some of these |
offices is like going into ole OF the |
largest rooms OF a great government |
The majority Of the |
clerks of the dry goods ard notion
stores of Washington are women and
the cashiers in many cases are of the
same sex. A number of wcmen own |
stores in Washington, and the finest ice |
creams and confection for the White
House dinners for years past have been |
supplied by little old French woman,
who, l am told, has made fortune at |
the business.
You can count the women lawyers |
and physicians of Washington upon |
your fingers, but there IS a number of i
noted persons among the few. Be!va
Lockwood, the well-known presiden- |
tial candidate, is the most noted Of the
lawyers, and Mrs. DR.. Winslow, who |
attended Chief Justice White during |
his late sickness, and who was called |
in now and then to see President Ar
thur, is the most noted of the doctors. !
Washington is great educational
centre, and it aboundS in private |
teachers, female seminailes, and little |
schools. These are manipulated al |
most wholly by women and the teachers |
of the charitable and public schools of |
the city. are made I'D of some colored |
girls as well as some white ones.
There is class of women here en-
gagged in literary work, and this en-
braces book writers, magazine writers.
The women correspondents of Wash
ington are as bright, brainy, and busy |
q set of money-making ladies, as you
will find on this side of the Atlantic.
The yearly profits of some of them run
into the thousands of dollars.